Two men arrested after 30-minute crime spree in Severna Park

Two men were arrested Friday following a 30-minute crime spree in which they allegedly rammed into two vehicles and dragged a police officer alongside his car in an attempt to avoid arrest.

The alleged driver, James William Snyder, 25, of Baltimore is being held on charges of first- and second-degree assault, destruction of property, possessing heroin, resisting arrest, several traffic charges and an outstanding arrest warrant.

His passenger, Ian Todd Brown, 28, who has no permanent address, was being held on a charge of heroin possession, according to Anne Arundel County Public Information Officer Justin Mulcahy.

Mulcahy wrote in a press release that the melee broke out at 9:45 a.m. after an officer on routine patrol was told that a suspect named in an arrest warrant was sitting in a car parked in the 500 block of Ritchie Highway in Severna Park.

When the officer grabbed the handle of the driver's side door, Snyder allegedly threw his car into reverse. He struck the squad hard enough to rip off the front bumper, dragging the officer for roughly 50 feet. The officer suffered cuts and bruises but did not seek hospital treatment.

Squads responding to the call chased the car for several miles to Telegraph Road and Wieker Road in Severn. The vehicle finally was stopped at around 10:20 a.m. after Snyder crashed into a car driven by a passing motorist. Mulcahy said in the news release that officers had attempted to halt the get-away vehicle by shooting two of the wheels with a tire deflation device known as "stop sticks."